Gujarat high court notice to Centre, CBSE over fresh NEET plea

Source – indiatimes.com

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court on Friday issued notice to the Centre, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and other authorities concerned over a petition of Gujarati-medium students seeking a fresh National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET). The court has asked the authorities to file their replies by June 5.

Some Class 12 students have demanded cancellation of NEET held earlier in May for admissions to undergraduate medical and dental courses. The petitioner students have sought a stay on the NEET results claiming that the CBSE had set two different sets of question papers for English-medium and Gujarati-medium students.

Along with allegations of arbitrary and unreasonable approach, the students have questioned, “whether the CBSE was justified in law in applying two different yardsticks – i.e. by prescribing different sets of question papers for students of English and Gujarati – for preparing a common merit list of all students together for the purpose of grant of admission to medical courses at undergraduate level.”

The students have also complained that the question paper given to Gujarati-medium students was tougher than the paper for English-medium students.

The petitioners have requested the high court to direct the CBSE to conduct NEET again on basis of the same question paper for English and Gujarati-medium students. In an alternative, the students have sought direction for a separate merit list for students of both the languages. During the pendency of the petition, the students have sought a stay on declaration of NEET results.They have also demanded that the Admission Committee for the Professional Medical Education Courses (ACPMEC) should be directed not to commence the admission process for medical and dental courses.